Overview of Valiant Shield 2020 experiment that paired a ground-based Aegis combat system with Army units. Lockheed Martin Image
Last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command quietly packed the combat system from a guided-missile destroyer into about the size of a footlocker, took it ashore and hooked it up to an Army artillery unit, an Air Force command node and an F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter. Read More
U.S. Marines with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 launch a RQ-21A Blackjack for Assault Support Tactics 2 at Canon Air Defense Complex (P111), Yuma, Ariz., Oct. 12, 2016. US Marine Corps photo.
While the Marine Corps is still charting its path forward for large drones, the service is moving smaller unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into its ground combat units. Read More
Vice Adm. Scott Stearney (left) relieves Vice Adm. John Aquilino (right) as commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet, Combined Maritime Forces during a change of command ceremony held aboard Naval Support Activity Bahrain on May 6, 2018. Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command (background), spoke at the ceremony. US Navy photo.
Vice Adm. Scott Stearney relieved Vice Adm. John Aquilino as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet in a May 6 ceremony in Manama, Bahrain. Read More
Navy BAMS-D UAV forward deployed to the Middle East, Marine Multi-Utility Tactical Transports (MUTTs), Navy SeaHunter Unmanned Surface Vehicle
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy hopes to eventually make unmanned systems just one tool among many for commanders to pick from. However, to get to that point the service will have to get unmanned systems into the hands of warfighters to work out the kinks, leaders said. Read More
The Navy conducts its first live fire demonstration to successfully test the integration of F-35 with existing Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air architecture, Sept. 12, 2016. US Navy Photo
A Monday test pairing a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) with an Aegis Combat System armed with a Raytheon Standard Missile-6 is the latest step in expanding how the Navy and Marine Corps will share data on future battlefields. Read More
The guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) fired the anti-surface Standard Missile-6 Block I in January 2016, proving out the new weapon and its ability to integrate into the NIFC-CA architecture. US Navy photo.
Navy engineers are working to bring new aircraft sensors and new weapons into the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) architecture, with near-term goals of bringing in the F-35’s radio frequency (RF) sensor and the anti-surface variant of the Standard Missile-6. Read More
An F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighter conducts a touch and go landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). US Navy Photo
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Success in a future operating environment will depend on networking – sharing data among sensors and weapons, weaving together the various domains, and bringing in manned and unmanned systems into the same decision loop – the Navy’s deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems (OPNAV N9) said Tuesday at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition 2016. Read More
